Psalm 56- Tears in a Bottle

 Psalm 56- Tears in a Bottle

Psalms 56:8

You have taken account of my wanderings;

Put my tears in Your bottle.

Are they not in Your book?

Psalms 39:12

“Hear my prayer, O LORD, and give ear to my cry;

Do not be silent at my tears;

For I am a stranger with You,

A sojourner like all my fathers.

Have you ever wondered whether God the Father really cares for you? Have you cried in the night, having wandered off of the path, and fearing that all is lost? Have you ever felt like a stranger in a stranger land, when even you family seems to have deserted you? You are not alone in feeling this way.

The psalmist, in psalm 56, acknowledges that God has taken account of his wanderings. The Father has heard his cry and has put his tears in a bottle. Can you comprehend the love of a Father that would do such a thing?

It is not wrong to cry out to the Lord. He sees our tears; whether of sadness, or pain, or rejection, or remorse, or of mourning, and takes note of our pain. He cares for you. 

The psalmist recognizes this at the end of psalm 56 and lifts up his voice in praise. He proclaims “I shall not be afraid, What can man do to me?” Whatever pain men have inflicted on you, the Father is able to deliver you.

Psalms 56:10-13

10 In God, whose word I praise,

In the LORD, whose word I praise,

11 In God I have put my trust, I shall not be afraid.

What can man do to me?

12 Your vows are binding upon me, O God;

I will render thank offerings to You.

13 For You have delivered my soul from death,

Indeed my feet from stumbling,

So that I may walk before God

In the light of the living.

It is not wrong to cry when you are overcome with emotion. The psalmist was not shy about crying and lifting his complaints to the Lord. But in the end, he acknowledged that the Father cares and can heal and deliver, no matter what the evil one has done to you.

A Beautiful expression of the final results of a time of shedding tears, is found in Psalm 126:

Psalms 126:5-6

Those who sow in tears shall reap with joyful shouting.

He who goes to and fro weeping, carrying his bag of seed,

Shall indeed come again with a shout of joy, bringing his sheaves with him.

God the Father is able to turn around any circumstance, and convert tears of sorrow into shouts of joy. In fact, he says here that tears are like seed that are sown in the ground, but the crop the grows is not more sorrow, but is in fact joyful shouting, after the Father redeems and heals the pain.

The penultimate expression of this is found in the book of Revelations where we wee the final outcome of all of our sorrow, when it is finally taken away.

Revelation 21:3-4

And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, 4 and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.”

Oh what a joyous day that will be! No more mourning, or crying or pain! But as wonderful as that is to look forward to, I think that we can see a measure of that here and now. Jesus instructed us to preach the gospel of the Kingdom of God, and that includes healing and deliverance in this present age. There will be a glorious Kingdom some day, where all will be made right, but we can begin now to proclaim he Kingdom. Many tears can be wiped away and much pain can be healed in this present age. So go ahead a shed a tear or two, for there is still trouble in this life, but don’t stop there. Look to the Father who loves you and can put those tears in a bottle so you can remember how he healed you and replaces the pain with joy.